Heretofore, tumbling figure toys which tumble end-over-end when placed on a duly inclined surface have included a cylinder containing a ball or sphere. The ball rolls to the respective ends or heads of the cylinder due to the effect of gravity wherein the impactive reception of the ball in the heads produces the tumbling motion. The cylinder may be constructed or designed as the head portion of the toy, while flexible cloth or fabric may be attached to the cylinder to construct the remaining portion of the toy body or torso.
Open-ended cylinders have been used in prior art tumbling dolls wherein the open ends of a respective cylinder are covered with cloth to retain the ball therein. The prior art also discloses forming a generally imperforate cylinder around the ball. In the former case, the cloth forms the mechanism for transferring the kinetic energy of the ball to the cylinder. The cloth, not being very rigid, may not provide optimum energy transfer to the cylinder. Furthermore, children may readily remove the cloth to gain access to the ball. Such access may render the toy unsafe to children who may, for example, place the ball in their mouths and inadvertently swallow the same. The imperforate type cylinders, or double-ended cylinders, may have flat heads at each end of the cylinder. The flat head design merely affords a single point contact when the ball impacts the head. Such minimal impact area may not provide optimum kinetic energy transfer from the ball to the cylinder. Furthermore, an additional sealing step to seal the ball in the cylinder may be necessary to manufacture the double-ended ball-containing cylinder. Finally, prior art tumbling figure toys, such as the tumbling toy disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,155,692 to Vie-Theer, may slide and not tumble down the incline if the angle of inclination is not suitable.